It is known to provide printed circuit card connectors which have spring contact members urged into electrical connection with an input/output means, such as a contact pad on a printed circuit card as the edge of the printed circuit card is inserted into an opening in the connector. The edge of the printed circuit card pushes the spring loaded electrical contact member into a contacting position as the edge of the printed circuit card moves past the contact member.
Usually, a constant interconnection is made between contact areas on the spring contact members and contact pads on the printed circuit card. However, there are applications wherein such edge card connectors and printed circuit cards are used as a reset switch as the printed circuit card is inserted into the opening in the housing. In other words, a contact pad on the printed circuit card may move over and past a contact area on a spring contact member to momentarily establish an interconnection therebetween; the interconnection being "broken" as the contact pad on the printed circuit card moves past the contact area on the spring contact member towards its fully inserted position in the connector opening. An example of such a momentary switch/edge card connector system might be in a printing apparatus wherein it is desired to reset functions of the printer when the printed circuit card is inserted into the edge card connector. For this purpose, one of the contact pads on the printed circuit card and one of the spring loaded contact members of the connector may be designed or designated as the reset interconnection.
One of the problems with using edge card connectors and printed circuit cards as momentary switches of the character described, concerns accidental or unintentional interconnection between the contact pad on the printed circuit card and the contact area on the spring contact member, which would cause a reset to occur. For instance, inadvertent movement or tilting or excessive vibrations of the printed circuit card after insertion into the connector could also cause unintentional interconnection. In the printer example above, an unintentional interconnection would cause the functions of the printer to be reset, possibly in the middle of a printing run or job.
This invention is directed to solving these problems by designing the spring contact member in relation to the contact pad on the printed circuit card to prevent unintentional interengagement therebetween.